Goodbye Dominica

Well, I have thought a lot about what I would say to sum up my feelings about my time here, and I'm not really sure I can do it justice in one blog post, but here goes.  I definitely have mixed feelings.  Am I excited to be going back to the states?  Heck yes!!  Was living in Dominica easy?  Heck no!!  The lack or or insane pricing of many basic food items and other things we take for granted in the states, having to walk everywhere to get it and shopping almost every day because you can only get what will fit in your stroller or in your lap on a bus and you need to go to 5 different stores to get everything was probably the most difficult. Then there were of course the bugs, the sweat like you've never sweated before, the rain, and, well you get my drift.  But I have come to realize that the fact that it was so hard was also what has made it so good- made us more patient, better able to roll with the punches, laugh at ourselves (and occasionally others :) ), and realize that we don't really need much, just each other.  Things here are never reliable, and you can't really count on anything, but I have realized that it's okay and that what I can count on is my Heavenly Father and I feel like I have come closer to Him this year and a half than ever before.  I remember being crushed when Josh didn't get in to a school in the states, and a few years ago I would never in my wildest dreams have imagined we would live here.  But looking back on it, I can think of at least a dozen reasons why we were supposed to be here and why it has been so good for us and changed us in so many ways, hopefully for the better.  I hope I can remember that, and that when I feel like life is throwing me a curve ball and things aren't going the way I had planned, that my Heavenly Father knows just what I need.  Dominica is where I learned what it really means to be a mom, and I honestly think I would be a completely different mother if I hadn't have lived here.  It is Shane's real first home, and looking back I can't imagine spending this first bit of his life with him anywhere else.  It is definitely time to move on now, but Dominica will always have a little place in our hearts, and I know that it will hold some of our very dearest memories.